Blackmail, White Stamp
by LilithSinclair
Summary: Two friends end up having to work for ShinRa after a hacking job goes wrong. Mostly Humor, might be romance and more serious matter and whatnot later on. Please Read & Review
1. Chapter 1

"W-what?!" The dark-red haired female stuttered upon waking up and finding the side of her face resting on a cool, thick metal table. She blinked in confusion and  
quickly jerked back, sending the just as thick metal chair on the floor along with her small frame.

"Melody!" The other female in the room snapped, seeming to have woken by the startling sound of metal clashing against the dirty tile floors. Her jade green eyes widened, not because her friend had fallen down on to the floor. No, that was to be expected of someone like her, but the fact they had both ended up in a small, dimly lit room with the only light source being a small office looking like lamp on the table, "Melody! What did you do?"

The girl looked up at her from the floor, holding her hands up in a defensive fashion and kept her light grey eyes wide open, "I didn't do it!-Oh, God!" Melody frantically squirmed away from the spots of dried blood that rested on the ground beside her and stood up with a horrified face, mostly due to slight OCD."P-Phoenix, where are we?!"

"I don't know..." Her voice trailed off as she looked more around the room. Yes, the room was small, had a metal table centered in the middle of it where they had been seated and appeared to be some sort of interrogation or holding room, which her red-headed companion seemed to notice the exact time she did. Phoenix stood up and started walking around in the tiny room with the red-haired girl to follow since they really hadn't much to do besides try to get a sense of just what happened. Both of their minds were too panicked to think of exactly how they got into this mess but there was a vague idea lingering about.

"Do you think-"

Melody quickly cut her off, "No...I mean, I wouldn't think that would be the reason."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right...," Phoenix said, brushing the idea aside before  
adding, "for once."

"Hey!"

"Sheesh, calm down. Anyway, look I found a door...Dammit, it's locked."

Melody abruptly pushed her aside, "Lemme try."

"Melody!"

The girl ignored her name being called in an angry fashion and jiggled the door handle a bit, which did virtually nothing but ease a sudden onset of boredom. "Yeah, it's locked," She apathetically stated while continuing to move the handle.

"Then what are you doing?" The black haired women was staring at her like she had clearly gone mad in such a small amount of time they had been there. She was a bit impatient , but this was just a bit absurd since they had only been awake there for a matter of minutes.

"I don't know," She replied with a quick laugh. The door handle suddenly clicked as she turned it for the umpteenth time, "Hey look now it's-W-whoa!" The door pushed opened, causing Melody to shriek loudly and fall back. Out of panic from hearing the other female's scream Phoenix grabbed the nearby metal chair and brought it down hard on the intruder's head. The large man started falling to the floor with Melody moving aside just in time with her eyes wide in horror as he hit the ground with a loud smack.

"P- Phoenix...did you kill him?" Melody asked timidly as she stared at the large body lying on the floor. She herself would rather be dead than not since he was lying face down on tiles as dirty as those so she felt for the man if he still was. The girl let out another scream when blood started pooling underneath his face, reddening the off-white tiles on the ground and traveling between the cracks of it.

"He better not die," Phoenix said, still holding the metal chair in now trembling hands, "Tha-that is not okay with me."

"Hey now..." Melody held up her hands and said in deadpan voice, "I don't think death cares if that's okay with you, death just makes people dead."

"Hey! What the hell is going on in there!" A voice suddenly boomed, sounding like it was getting closer by the second. Melody quickly shut the door and pushed her body up against it in an attempt to help keep it shut, neglecting the fact that her body weight and strength, or lack thereof was going to be of little to no use.

"Oh, Gawd, what do we do-P-Phoenix, quick hide the body!"

The other female looked around before realization hit her. They were in a small room, where the hell was one to hide a body? "W-where?!"

"I dunno, somewhere, anywhere. C'mon, I don't wanna go to prision!" Melody whined.  
"Look around, woman!" Phoenix said, sounding just as panicked. Things escalated just a little too quickly and it was just no bueno in her mind. Either way, they had to find a way out of this situation.

The hair on the back of Melody's neck stood up, sensing the person on the other side of the door was about to push through. She gave Phoenix a look and it seemed they both had the same thought appear in their mind.

"Now!" Melody shouted jumped out of the way of the door a little to dramatically as the man pushed open the door.

"Hiiiiyaaaahhhh." The metal chair smashed down on yet another unsuspecting person, sending him to the floor just like the one before him. She rested her chair on the ground with an accomplished look on her face and brushed some of her long, black strands of hair away from her green eyes.

"Cool, cool, we killed two people now...heh," Melody let out a nervous laugh that turned into a slight whimper as she came to realize more and more of what a horrible situation they had gotten themselves into. The red-head dashed outside the door mumbling something about just wanting to get out of here. Phoenix picked back up the heavy chair, looking panicked that she was being left alone and ran after her friend and into the brightly lit hallway that burned her eyes a bit at first from adjusting to the sudden increase of light, "H-hey, wait for me!"

Both females were now running down the hall at full speed, the sound of their shoes clicking loudly on the flooring tiles. More people ran to where they were, this time carrying guns of some sort and cursing as they chased after them. Melody picked up her pace yelling "Oh, gawd, no, no, no, no!"and ran passed people trying to grab at her, swiftly being able to dodge everyone of them. She even fell to the ground and crawled between peoples legs if she had to just to evade the possibility in her mind that she was going to die if someone caught her. The black haired woman was now a long ways behind her cursing her friend her leaving her behind in such a situation, "Woman!" She yelled, smashing the chair into another person's face, "What did I say about waiting for me?!"More running and fighting later they eventually caught up with each other and seemed to lose everyone from the labyrinth of turns the spastic red-head had taken. They both sighed in relief and tried to catch their breathes. Melody leaned against the wall looking like she was going to collapse right then and there.

"Hey, Phoenix, give me that chair," Melody managed to say once she took in more deep breathes to ease her oxygen deprived lungs.

"What?...Oh," The woman had forgotten that she had brought the thing as a weapon of all things . She opened her mouth and was about to give her friend a sassy reply but was distracted by slow clapping coming from the other end of the hallway.

"Good job, ladies. I must say I am slightly impressed," The blonde haired man allowed his hands to fall back to his side and walked closer to the two while being followed by a black-haired man in a suit. Melody gulped while Phoenix just gripped her chair, holding it tighter just in case she had to smash someone's face in again with it. Which, she would since she's just that crazy.

"Who are you?" Melody asked, making her friend give her a look like she was a complete idiot. After all who else could it be besides Rufus ShinRa?

Rufus smirked at her, looking slightly amused by the confused face she was giving him now. "You should know," He pushed some of his blonde hair back in place, "You and your little friend here are the ones who hacked into the ShinRa database. "

"That was all her." Phoenix stated, not wanting any part of this we business.

"Hey!"

She shrugged, not seeing the big deal, "What?"

Melody pouted but then quickly glanced over at where the two men were standing , "So-so hypothetically speaking, what would you do if I did hack into the database...not saying I did or anything, but..."

"Well, I suppose I would have to kill-wait where is that woman going?" Rufus sighed as he watched the female take off down the hallway, "No one ever lets me finish...how rude. Restrain her!" A large man suddenly came around the corner right when Melody was trying to turn. He grabbed one of her wrists and promptly started walking down the hallway, dragging her with him. She glanced up at him noticing the dried blood on his face along with broken sunglasses, cracked in every which way but loose so to speak, and looked quickly back at the ground. He didn't look too pleased about these broken shades and just continued to drag her, letting go of her wrist only when she was right in front of Rufus, who had a rather apathetic look on his face.

"Now then...as I was saying before. I'd have to kill you two, unless you decided to work for the ShinRa company, to which may be in your best interest now. We don't know how much information you saw or read rather but if you were under the company's supervision it wouldn't matter as much, " Rufus stated, fixing his blonde hair again.

"But, sir-" The black-haired man spoke up. Rufus held up his hand to cut him off.

"I know what I am doing, Tseng. You haven't doubted me, your president, before so I suggest you don't doubt me now." Rufus cleared his throat and looked back at Phoenix and Melody, "Now, considering your skills you both may be able to be of some use to the company. You," He looked at Phoenix, "Will be into our SOLDIER division due to the strength you have exhibited while failing at your escape. Also due to the fact you seemed to knock Rude with just a chair is a little primal but impressive to say the least. Of course..." he trailed off and glanced at the chair in her hands, "You'd have to change your choice of weapons."

"Can't only men join SOLDIER?" Phoenix asked, looking skeptical. She had tried to before since it would get her closer to the Silver-haired male she idolized but was turned down due to her gender. So, if this was just a joke she knew the next person this chair was going to hit.

Rufus nodded but then stated, "Technically yes, but I am the president here so rules don't apply if I desire them not to...also we need to soften the image of the company so having a female in SOLDIER wouldn't hurt."

"Alright, I'll do it." Phoenix responded like she had the choice. She tried to hid a slight smile that was appearing on her lips from the thought of seeing her favorite SOLDIER.

Rufus then glanced at Melody, "And with your hacking skills I suppose we could put you in the Turk's division. It may deem useful in the future." Tseng and Rude looked at Rufus in slight disbelief since she didn't look like the usual Turk material.

"So...I won't die if I join, right?" She asked, timidly looking up at him with a nervous smile.

He nodded, "Yes, but I can't promise what may happen down the road,"

"Oh...well -"

"Hey," Phoenix said, getting annoyed with her, "Just say yes and worry about the details later."

"b-but"

"Say it."

Melody sighed, "Fine, I shall join..."

"Good, then welcome to ShinRa." Rufus turned to start walking away but then paused for a moment, giving them another glance. His pale blue eyes looked serious and there was no trace of humor on his face at all as to be expected from the president of a large company, "Hope you last." with that he chuckled slightly as he walked away. Melody and Phoenix looked at each other wondering just what they had gotten themselves into.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! thanks for reading my story if you made it thus far XD. I forget to mention that this story might be slightly AU since Rufus is considered the president of the company and the SOLDIER division is still open since no one deserted and whatnot, anyway I do not own Final Fantasy, please Read and Review**

* * *

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rufus wasn't an idiot so to speak so he made sure that the two females were questioned and carefully watched over a period of a week before they were trusted enough to even enter the other parts of the ShinRa building. They had to stay on one of the many floors in a simple room of some sort that had been provided, being nothing that spectacular. It had simple furnishings and plain white walls with two beds in it. The smallness of it would have been noticed if it wasn't for them being taken out of it frequently and brought to another room on the same floor to be tested on their abilities, skills, and so forth.

It was noticed that, like Rufus had predicted, Phoenix excelled in all physical challenges, being a great candidate for SOLDIER . The female had even mastered the small red orb called fire materia, seeming to favor it above all the others. She had her bad points though, being a bit slower and getting too frustrated when she failed at the tasks she was given, and her fighting stance certainly needed a lot of improvement. Even with all that in mind, the first class SOLDIERS had been watching her train over the course of the week agreeing that she would be a perfect first female SOLDIER after she starts her mako treatments to boast up her durability and strength. Melody, on the other hand was making Tseng very skeptical of whether or not she belonged in the Turks. She certainly had no strength at all compared to her raven-haired friend and seemed too timid to do anything in a battlefield. Her materia use was average at best and she couldn't even shoot a gun without being too tense that the kick of it was going to smash the gun into her face. Tseng couldn't deny that she was fast though, reminding him of another read head he knew and had an uncanny ability to hack into any system ,doing what she pleased all while being completely untraceable, well except the time she got sloppy which is why she ended up in ShinRa in the first place.

The only odd thing that could be said about the two was when asked the reason Melody hacked into the ShinRa database. She looked down, pondering what to say and then look back up at Tseng fidgeting with her fingers a bit and making sure all the first class SOLDIERS and her friend were out of earshot. It was because her friend wanted information on the famous general Sephiroth, Tseng remembers the girl explaining in that soft voice of hers and then giving her friend that was training across the room a toothy grin like she hadn't told her secret. Tseng didn't want to believe that the other female had prompted her friend to hack into a very, very, secure and dare to say impenetrable database for them to check up on the silver-haired SOLDIER, but the look of innocence on Melody's face when she said this and the blush and eye avoidance from Phoenix when asked to confirm said otherwise. Now that the week was up though it needed to be decided what to do with the two of them while Tseng, Angeal, and Sephiroth watched the two train, which was more Melody running away from the fire blasts Phoenix was sending her way.

"So what do you think?" Tseng asked, carefully watching the two with calm, brown eyes that slightly glowed every time a fire spell was cast.

Angeal smiled as he watched Phoenix, his new SOLDIER candidate "She has promise. What do you think, Sephiroth?"

The green-eyed man nodded, smirking slightly, "Yes, she does. I'd like to see how the other SOLDIERS react to a female though."

Angeal glanced over at Tseng who was still watching the two carefully, "What about Melody ? She looks promising too. She certainly has the speed to be a Turk."

The Wutain raised an eyebrow and then sighed, not seeing what Angeal was seeing, " She still needs a lot more training," Tseng sighed again before composing himself and then motioned for Melody to walk to where he was standing. She sighed in relief since the barrage of fire balls being throw at her had stopped and gracefully skipped up to Tseng, looking up at him with a patient face and waiting to see what he had to say.

"Here," He handed the female a bag, "Go change and report back to me here."

"Alrighty," Melody replied as she peeked inside the bag while she walked away. All she could see was black and white material neatly folded in it, to which she assumed was her new uniform. Tseng just waited for her to return, now watching Phoenix practice training with Sephiroth. The female seemed a bit too happy to train with him, making Tseng wonder if her being a SOLDIER was really such a good idea.

"Alright, I'm done." Melody said, knocking Tseng out of his thoughts. He looked over at her seeing that she took the liberty of altering the uniform she had been given. Instead of the issued, black uniformed pants she had opted for black shorts with black pantyhose under them like she thought it would make them a bit more formal. Even her tie was in a knot, looking like she had attempted to tie it and failed a few too many times.

"What happened to your uniform?" Tseng asked, calmly. Melody looked up at him with a confused face and began fidgeting with her deep, red locks that were cut into a bob-like hair cut, except for the fact the front of it was extremely long, going passed her chest before angling up so the back of it was just long enough to barely rest on her shoulders. Her messy bangs went past her eyebrows stopping before they could cover her steel, gray eyes that finally looked like she understood his question and it was really about time.

"Oh," She laughed nervously, "Well you see...I got these legs and well-"

"Just, never mind," Tseng cut her off, not wanting to hear her rambling. He watched her try to fix her tie again, this time managing to tie it in a series of knots that he didn't even think were possible, "Hold still..."

"What?Oh-" Melody stiffened up as Tseng reached near her neck, untying the impossible knots, "Thank you, sir."

He simply nodded and tightened the tie close to her neck, making her feel like she couldn't breathe. He would just have to deal with her choice of dressing for now, "You will have to learn how to do this yourself. I can't and don't desire to do this for you every day." His brown eyes glanced at her with a serious look before he removed his hands from the black fabric and turned to walk away, motioning for her to follow him.

"Yes, sir," Melody saluted him even if couldn't see it to the amusement of the first class SOLDIERS in the room and began following close behind him, "So does this mean I'm a Turk now?"

"No."

"Oh...alright," Melody said with a slight sigh.

"You are still a trainee," Tseng stated, "also you are still not completely trusted by the company."

"...Oh."

" You will still be escorted by someone and will not be allowed to go anywhere in the ShinRa building without someone with you." Tseng said, sounding just as serious as always, "Also, you will be given a new room, this time on the floor designated for the Turks to stay. Once you are taken to your room you will not be allowed to leave until someone comes to retrieve you and take you elsewhere." He slid a card on a slot near an elevator and then glanced at Melody, "Is that clear?"

She followed him into the elevator, noting the soft music playing in the background, "As crystal."

The man nodded and then dug into his pocket and pulled out something that looked like a cell phone, "This is a PHS. It has numbers already programmed in it for you to use in case of emergencies. It also has other features that you will learn to use later."

The girl examined the phone, opening it and looking at the screen which seemed to be locked with a complex pass code. "It's locked," She stated looking up at Tseng with confused eyes.

"It was the presidents orders. He said that if you could hack into the database then that should be no problem for you, of course his words not mine."

Melody looked like she was excepting the challenge and had already began pressing a fury of button with her tongue stuck out of her mouth slightly in concentration. She had it unlocked in a matter of seconds but when she looked up Tseng was already walking through the elevator door. The girl followed him out to where she assumed was the floor designated to the Turks. After walking down a few hallways Tseng stopped in front of a door and opened it, politely letting Melody walk in first to what looked like a lounge area with a small kitchenette. There was a man sitting on one of the couches there, causally reading a book as he adjusted his black sunglasses. To her surprise he was the same one that Phoenix hit with a chair.

"I see you are done with you mission today," Tseng said, causing the other man to look to where his superior was standing. Rude simply nodded silently in reply. It was true, and oddly enough with all the Turks in their department he was only one free right now so he braced himself for another mission that he expected he was going to be assigned. "I have an assignment for you and your partner, once he gets off his suspension leave that is..." Rude and Tseng both seemed to have a moment of reflection on just why Rude's companion was sent home for a few weeks and sighed while Melody looked at the two, blinking cluelessly at their silence. Tseng cleared his throat, "I need the two of you to help train our newest member here and escort her anywhere she goes. She is not allowed to be unaccompanied in any part of the building for awhile. I will give you more information later." Rude simply nodded again and gave a slight grunt of acknowledgement to let Tseng know he had understood what he had said. "Good, then I entrust her to you."

Tseng left the room, leaving Melody alone with the bald headed man. Rude couldn't help but notice how timid and not to mention fragile she looked. He could tell she wouldn't be able to last at all in combat and the naive look on her face made him think he really couldn't leave her alone or someone would take advantage of her whether it be for information or something else. He really disliked seeing women or children in the Turks since it was such a risky occupation but he supposed he would have to bite his tongue and deal with it for now. After all, he had heard that Rufus wanted her specifically in this field because of her hacking abilities. Little did she know that she was being sought after by him even before she hacked into the ShinRa database. Either way, he and Reno would have a lot of work to do if they had to train her. He was snapped out of his thoughts again when he saw the girl sit down on the couch next to him out of the corner of his eye.

"Um," Melody fidgeted with her fingers, making Rude assume she didn't do well when meeting new people, "Sorry about your face..."

Rude gave her an odd look and then remembered what she meant by the events that occurred a week ago, "It's fine..." Really that was the first time in awhile that he had been knocked out so needless to say he was more impressed than angry at her friend.

"I promise she won't hit you again...well, I think," Melody sighed, shaking her head, "Sometimes I'm just not too sure about her, y'know," She gave him a quick smile before noticing he had gone back to reading and in shades of all things. "You should really take off your sunglasses when your reading, " Melody stated, "You'll strain your eyes and go blind...I think." She looked confused as she pondered if this was really true, but the look on her face made Rude chuckle to which he masked with a cough. She certainly didn't give herself time to think before she talked that was for sure.

The female sighed softly, not being able to figure it out and shrugged. She glanced at the small table in front of the couch in the longue noticing all the books there and figured she might as well read one since she didn't want to bother Rude anymore than she felt she already was, "Um, do you mind if I read one of those?"

Rude just nodded, not caring which way or the other since truthfully he just wanted silence at the moment, but he wasn't going to be true to his name and state it out loud.  
"Thanks," Melody took the book, opening it to the first page so she could begin reading. Silence filled the room once again and Rude felt like he could get used to having a trainee like this. She didn't chat him up like a certain blonde he knew and she wasn't trying to annoy him like a certain cocky read-head . That reminded him that same that certain red-head would be coming back in a week and he hoped he would remain professional when helping train their now newest member, but then again Reno was unpredictable so he would just have to wait and see.

**-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-**

"Good job." Sephiroth praised as he lowered his masamune sword. Phoenix smiled slightly at his praise, but was extremely exhausted and out of breathe from fighting the famed first class SOLDIER. She looked over as Angeal walked up, handing her a cold bottle of Icicle Inn brand water and a clean, white towel. She accepted both, first wiping off the sweat that had built up on her face before guzzling down the cold water.

"I think you will make a fine SOLDIER. You will be first class in no time." Angeal said and then patted her on the back with a heavy hand that only made her choke on the water she was drinking. Phoenix started coughing but managed to mumble a thanks, "What did you think, Sephiroth?"

"She has skill, it needs to be perfected but she at least shows more promise than a lot of the male SOLDIERS. I wouldn't be as bold to say she's on her way to first class, but possibly second." Sephiroth began walking away seeming completely fine and not out of breathe from the fight at all. Phoenix was sure the man didn't even break a sweat so she wasn't sure why she was being praised by the two so much, "I'm going to make sure the other SOLDIERS are off the floor when she arrives."

Angeal nodded, thinking that was probably for the best if they didn't want to start a riot, "Alright, I'll take her to the Mako showers in the meantime."

"Mako showers?" Phoenix questioned looking skeptical.

"Yes, every SOLDIER is required to take one, but don't worry it's completely harmless. It helps build your strength and endurance so you will last longer in the battlefield." The man explained, giving her a reassuring smile, "Now follow me and we'll get you prepared on the way to being a true SOLDIER."

Phoenix only nodded again and followed the man while he explained the rules and jist of everything, which was fine. What was not fine was when he began giving her a long speech about honor, that seemed longer than the rules she was being given. She could only nod, trying not to show her annoyance as he prattled on and on about why honor is important. Phoenix was almost a little too happy when they had arrived at their destination.

"If you don't have honor you have-Oh, we are already here." Angeal said, now noticing where they were, "We will finish this speech later." He began pushing her towards the door.

"W-whoa, don't get all pushy!" She said, quickly moving away from his forceful hands with a huff.

"Go on inside, I'll be waiting out here," Angeal said, seeming to ignore her anger towards him and smiled at her. She glared at him, not liking him at all at this moment, especially after listening to him talk about honor for so long and walked on inside the room. It looked like a shower area of some sort and was normal looking enough.

"Here goes nothing..." Phoenix mumbled to herself as she stripped off her clothes, setting them aside in a place where she knew they wouldn't get wet with... well, whatever mako was. She walked over to the shower area of the room and sighed softly before turning the handle on the wall. Glowing, green liquid began pouring out, touching her skin and washing off all the sweat and dirt she had gotten from training. It felt odd since it was neither hot nor cold but still had a cooling effect on her body, making her feel rejuvenated. The female closed her eyes, taking it all in all in until a thought crossed her mind. She still had that water bottle left. She could empty it and fill it with this strange liquid. She didn't know what she would do with it, but maybe she could show Melody that this stuff was actually real or something like that.

"I wouldn't stay in there too long." Angeal warned through the door. Phoenix's eyes widened and she quickly grabbed the water bottle, filling it up before she turned off the mako water.

"I'm not!" She yelled, swearing she heard a chuckle through the door. Phoenix showed her middle finger to the door, cursing under her breathe before she got dressed in her old clothes, slyly hiding the water bottle from plain sight and then exited the room to where Angeal was.

He welcomed her with a smile, to which she returned with a frown, "Now let's get you a uniform." Angeal motioned for her to start following him, "Where was I on my speech, oh yes, I remember now."

Phoenix inwardly groaned, covering her as he led her to the SOLDIER floor. Sephiroth was already waiting for them when they got there, noting the look on Phoenix's face. He was no stranger to the honor speech Angeal gave people so he felt sympathy for the woman.  
"Here," The silver-haired man handed her new uniform that was neatly folded, "Go change in that room over there."

Phoenix gave him a smile, "Yessir!" She happily walked into the room, making Angeal scratch his head in confusion.

"It seems she likes you better..." Angeal sighed.

Sephiroth smirked, "I wonder why."

"Hm?"

"Oh nothing," Sephiroth looked away, not wanting to mention that his speeches could make people hate him just as much as people hated Genesis for his Loveless reciting. The door suddenly opened and they were both surprised she had gotten dressed so quickly.

"I didn't want to wear the pants," She stated upon seeing them and crossed her arms, "They looked stupid." They both looked at her noticing that she was wearing her own that were skinny jeans torn at the knees and faded from black to white. She had also worn her jacket over the dark blue sweater, but at least she had chosen to keep the armor provided so she outfitted the shoulder guards on top of it.

"It seems that both you and your friend both like changing up the uniform provided." Angeal commented, looking amused again. It wasn't in SOLDIER tradition to change up a uniform when you only third class but like Tseng, he would make an exception for her.

Phoenix smiled, arms still crossed, "Well yeah, who wants to look like everyone else?"  
Sephiroth and Angeal exchanged glances. She was certainly an interesting one to say the least and they both were wondering how far this trait would take her.

"Well?" Phoenix looked at both of them, cocking her head to one side. Her long black bangs slid away from one of her jade green eyes it was covering. Both of them now had a notable mako glow to them, making her raven-black hair that was put up in a long pony tail look even darker.

Angeal smiled again, "Welcome to SOLDIER,third class SOLDIER Phoenix"

"What? Just third class?" She sighed, shaking her head, "Oh well, I'll except that...but just for now."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The clock illuminated the room, telling Melody that it was five thirty on the dot. She shut her tired, steel grey eyes and sighed softly since she hadn't been able to sleep all night. New places were always hard for her to get used to and even though the bedroom was filled with her old things it still didn't feel right. The air felt different and every dark corner was unfamiliar and strange. This wasn't her room, it couldn't be, but here she was sleeping in it, or at least attempting at it.

There was a slight shift on her bed and Melody could feel that someone had sat down at the end of it. "It's early, y'know..." Melody mumbled, not even opening her eyes to see who it was. She already knew and if it wasn't who she thought it was the female was at the point that she was too tired to even care. This had been a routine that had been going on a week here anyway.

"Hey," A familiar voice said, "It's not my fault SOLDIERs have to begin training at six, I was going to wake you up at five, so you should be thanking me right now."

Melody sighed and looked over at Phoenix "...and let me guess, you want breakfast?" The other woman just shrugged but Melody knew that was a yes, "...Just wait in the living room," She grumbled and slowly slide her feet on the cold wood of the floor. Phoenix had left the room since the girl was hardly a morning person and knew it to not push her luck by hanging around any longer.

The red-head stretched her arms in the air with another yawn before she stood up, giving herself a look in the mirror. Her hair was disheveled, making her wrinkle her nose with light freckling across it that but she was thankful that was the only place she got freckles since she hated them. She adjusted the loose t-shirt she slept in, feeling too tired to dig through her dresser for pants and decided in her mind that her friend would just have to deal with seeing a lot of her legs today.

The kitchen would be where she would find herself next and occupied herself into finding something easy to fix while Phoenix flipped through television channels in the other room, filling it with a continuous loop of voices from newscasters, talk show hosts, and silly cartoon characters. Melody's eye twitched and she sighed out loudly, trying to calm herself down. Everything was so irritating in the morning.

"Is cereal okay?" Melody asked, voice still coming out in a tired, annoyed grumble.

"Huh?"

"...Nevermind..." The female sighed again and ripped the top of a box of _Count Chocobo's Coco Flakes. _She lazily poured the contents into a large bowl ignoring the mess she was making on the kitchen counter and then sloshed some one percent milk over it. Melody grabbed herself a Cola in the fridge and Phoenix a spoon before joining her on the couch, seeing the woman had decided on a cartoon that had something to do with a moogle family from what she could tell.

"What, just cereal?" Phoenix sassed as she looked down at the bowl she was handed.

"No...you got the bowl there too," Melody had a hint of a smile on her face as she picked up her laptop that had been on the coffee table and transferred it over to her lap so she could work some on perfecting ShinRa security system on their online files. She was soon distracted when her friend shoved the soda onto her keyboard, disrupting her tying, "...Phoenix..."

"Yeah?"

Melody raised an eyebrow at her, finally being more awake now ,"Woman, why is there a soda on my keyboard?"

"...Huh?" Phoenix yawned, acting like she wasn't the one who placed it there, "I don't know, but you might want to drink it...unless you want to pass out in front of strangers that is."

Melody pouted in a childish way and still sulked as she picked up the cold aluminum can and pulled back the tap at the top, "...Fine..." She downed half of it right there and then slammed it back on the coffee table. At least she would be okay for awhile since she could already feel the sugar in her system spike and perk her body up, "Anyway, how are you doing over at SOLDIER?"

Phoenix sighed, "Good...I just hate everyone there...well, except for my Sephiroth of course, but the rest of them are so,so-...I just hate them."

"Like hate hate or I just hate people hate?"

The raven-haired woman shrugged, tossing a few strands of her sleek black hair back over her shoulder, "Either way, I hate them."

Melody sighed, shaking her head a bit "That sounds like something you would do and by the way it's getting near six and you aren't even in you SOLDIER clothes yet, you might want to get to that or something...Well, I don't know, do whatever since I don't your life."

Phoenix whipped her head back to look at the clock hung up on the wall, "Shit!" She stood up in a panic, "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"...I just did-hey," The door slammed echoing out into the hallway and leaving Melody back alone again,"And..." The woman slide the technological device off her lap and stood back up giving the clock on the wall a glance, "I may want to get ready too, I guess..." She sighed softly and headed off to her bedroom to where she dressed in her usual Turk uniform, and was glad Rude had been kind enough to pre tie her necktie for her so all she had to do was slip it over her head and be done with it. Hair was brushed as well as teeth and she grabbed her laptop before she headed out the door of her apartment, neglecting the fact that she wasn't allowed to roam around alone by herself until she was safely on the Turk floor.

The girl stopped at the Turk longue first to get Rude a cup of morning coffee. She waved at Cissnei and Elena, two female turks she had met earlier in the week when she walked in there and struck up a quick conversation while she poured coffee in a thick, heavy white mug for Rude. After a what seemed like an eternity of tying to get away from the chatty blonde and earning a sympathic look from Two Guns, Melody was finally on her way hoping the brew hadn't cooled down too much. She made a mental note on not to get caught in a "quick" conversation with Elena again when she was in a hurry, or even when she wasn't in a hurry... or maybe never.

The girl shook her head casting her thoughts aside and walked into Rude's office that always seemed to smell like ink, coffee, and gun oil while focusing all of her attention on the mug in her hand, "Hey, Rude I came early to-Oh Gawd!" The woman stumbled on nothing and shut her eyes tightly, expecting to feel the impact of the ground but was surprised when she slowly opened one eye to see her now empty hand stretched out in front of her with her leaned over and looking at the muted grey carpeting on the floor.

"Shit you're clumsy,yo," A voice drawled out as she noticed an arm wrapped around her stomach that had saved her from the fall. Melody looked up at the owner of this voice with a confused expression showing clearly in her grey eyes as she looked at the red-head who was giving her a lop-sided grin. His hair wasn't as dark as her blood red locks but was red all the same. His bangs hung over his goggles and he had two what looked like tattoos or scars under his blue eyes. The girl was now debating on that forgetting she was staring and heard him chuckle slightly, "Take a picture, babe, it lasts longer."

"Huh-O-oh," The girl quickly stood up straight and rubbed the back of her head in an embarrassed manner, trying to act like nothing had happened as she looked back at Rude, "Anyway I brought you," She pointed at him, "Yes you, some coffee and-Hey, where did it go?" The girl looked around for the mug she for sure knew she had until she heard the other man in the room chuckle, causing her eyes to look back at him and notice he was drinking out of the mug , the same white mug she had brought for Rude. The female sighed shaking her head like this was such a tragedy, "Well, Rude, you had a mug of coffee."

Rude decided for now he would let the fact that Reno had gotten his coffee slide since it was his first day back in a week and sighed softly, "Melody, did you walk here alone?"

"Yes-wait, no, no I did not," The girl gave Rude a forced smile that wavered as he looked at her through his dark-tinted sunglasses and had his usual expression that she mistook for him being angry at her. She held her laptop close to her chest like she was scared, "I-I mean yes, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking, don't tell Tseng."

"What?" Reno looked confused and took another sip of coffee to Rude's irritation, "Why can't she go where she wants,yo?"

Rude shrugged, not understanding why either. All he knew was he was suppose to escort her to the Turk floor from her room and anywhere else that she needed to go, but she was allowed to walk around on the Turk's floor freely,"Tseng's orders..."

"Huh...sucks for her, yo. Who is she anyway?" Reno asked like she wasn't standing right there.

"Our new trainee..."

"Seriously,yo?" Reno glanced back over at her. She didn't look like much of a fighter and had a certain air of obliviousness about her, but hey, at least she was cute unlike all the other male trainees Reno had to train, who didn't even last long and quit before they were even promoted to Turk.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Melody said, giving him a quick smile before she looked at the ground and sighed, "I'll try to get better quickly so I won't be a burden..."

Reno walked over to her and ruffled up her hair a bit, "Hey, cheer up,yo, why would I be disappointed to train a cute thing like you,yo?" He leaned down to her level and gave her his best smile.

Melody just blinked a few times in confusion at him and looked at Rude, "He's got twenty-twenty, right? Y'know vision..."

The red-haired man chuckled and ruffled her hair again like she was a little kid, making Melody sigh and try not to think about the rat's nest it probably was in right now, "Anyway, what's your name,yo?"

"Oh,um" The female paused for a moment as she fixed her hair, "My name is Melody."

"Melody, huh? Cute name, yo. I'm Reno," He flashed her a confident grin, "You're lucky you got me as a trainer , I am the best here after all, yo."

Melody looked confused, "I thought Tseng was since he is the head of the Turks and whatnot."

"Tseng? Nah,yo,all he can do is shoot a gun. Shit like that is easy, now if ya' wanna be a good Turk ya' gotta be proficient with one of these," Reno pulled out something that looked like a night stick to show her, tapping her lightly on the head with it making her flinch, "It's an EMR,yo."

"An EMR?" Melody repeated, tilting her head to the side as she looked at it. She knew she was horrible with guns so maybe this would be a better option for her in combat since Tseng said she needed to be armed at all times if she wanted to be a Turk, "Is it easy to use?"

"Easy to use, pssh, well , you are about to find out, yo," Reno suddenly grabbed her hand after he set the coffee mug back on Rude's desk and began dragging the female along with him as he walked to the door being as eager as an infomercial salesman.

"Whoa, wait, where are we going?" Melody asked, looking back at Rude for help.

"She's not use to fighting," Rude stated, "Go easy on her."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'll make sure to bring her back in her original condition," He smirked, "Or at least close to it, yo."

"R-rude, you'll come check on me? Right?" His office door was quickly vanishing in the distance as Reno happily drug her along,"Right?!"

**-LATER ON THE SOLDIER FLOOR-**

Phoenix slashed through her virtual prey, leaving her sword and herself covered in the overly realistic digital blood and guts. She shook off the fake carnage before running at full speed, slicing through yet another offender while simultaneously sending a fire blast to another monster that was about to flank her. The flames consumed the monster into an ashy pile to which she jumped over and continued her rampage to prove that she was a good fighter. Sephiroth was supposedly in the observation room, observing her naturally and a few other third class SOLDIERs they put out in the virtual landscape of rocks and desert creatures. Right now the female was almost caught up with the lead and she was trying her best to leave her competition in the dust figuratively and physically.

Phoenix lifted up her sword again to kill something else in all her rage but a ringing resonated through the training room, piercing her ears as the simulation came to an end. "Dammit!" The raven haired woman threw her sword on the ground, clanging it against the tiled surface and tugged her helmet off, panting heavily.

"Well, looks like I came in the lead again," One of the third class SOILDERs said with a taunting smile. He had a name, but Phoenix cared not to remember it since the only name she needed to know was Sephiroth's and, well Melody's on those few occasions she needed to yell at her, and...let's not forget her own, that would come in handy at times.

"Move!" She commanded, pushing right passed him, not feeling like dealing with this punk right now.

"Hey, where are you going, princess?" He snickered with a few of his SOLDIER buddies walking over to join him. That was just the way it was in SOLDIER for her. They either completely disrespected her or hit on her, other than that she was just ignored, and on a few rare occasions treated like an equal. That hardly ever happened though, she even knew Sephiroth had went easy on her when she sparred with him because of her gender, "I honestly still don't know why you're here. Females don't belong anywhere in SOLDIER."

Phoenix turned back around, placing a hand on her hip, "Well, I'm here aren't I? President ShinRa wanted me here, alright? So _please _ just shut up before..." The girl bit her lip, trying to calm herself down. She didn't normally have such a quick fuse but spending a week with idiots like them was getting to her.

"That's tough talk for a girl," He replied, "But I can say anything I want because it's not like you could do anything about it. I mean look at that score board up there, you couldn't even beat me."

The female tightening her other hand into a fist, shaking her head as she glared at the ground. She was trying to remind herself the consequence of fighting in SOLDIER but the man just kept on talking and talking and talking, and gah! it was annoying. "That's it!" She hissed, lunging towards him and sending her fist into face, feeling his nose break under it with a sickening crack. She stepped back just as the blood started dripping down his face, leaving small droplets on the floor around them

"Why you little-" The man stopped in midsentence and stood back up straight with a scared look on his face, "Oh, hi, General Sephiroth"

"Hmph..." The silver-haired man walked closer to the group with slow steady steps.

"Damn, damn, damn," Phoenix mumbled under her breathe, keeping her eyes on the ground. How could he not be mad at her? She had broken a man's nose and her hands were even red from it., "L-look, Sir, I'm-"

He placed a hand on her shoulder causing her cheeks turn a deep crimson ,"No need to apologize, Phoenix," He flicked his green cat like eyes over at the group of men in front of him, "Can I assume that this won't happen again in the future? It doesn't look good on SOLDIERs part to harass young women,"

"Oh, y-yessir," The man saluted him with a bloody hand that was once holding his bleeding nose, making Sephiroth's nose turn up a bit in disgust.

"Get cleaned up," Sephiroth ordered, taking his hand off of the girl's shoulder and turned around to walk away, "Also everyone here will report to the afternoon training session too." He could the heavy sighs of everyone who's afternoon plans were now crushed.

"Sir?" Phoenix asked, running over to walk along side him, "Did I do a good job? Well, in the simulator that is?"

He looked like was contemplating an answer, "You did decent enough," The silver-haired man walked away with his long hair swishing behind him.

"...Still not good enough, huh?" Phoenix mumbled to herself with a bit of a sigh. That's not what she wanted to hear at all from him. A good job would have been perfectly acceptable. The female sighed heavily, kicking some training equipment out of the way with crossed arms and a frown on her face. She stormed out of the training room and straight to her room that was one floor up, opening the door and slamming it behind her. Her apartment was more simple than the Turks one and was basically a large bedroom that had two beds in it since most SOLDEIRs had roommates. She had a small kitchenette in the corner, but most of the time they assumed SOLDIERS were going to eat the food provided in the cafeteria. Other than that there was a bathroom, which was a given that had a simple shower in it. First class, of course got better apartments but for now she would just have to deal with this.

She sat herself down on one of the beds in her room and sighed again, not knowing what she was doing wrong. The female had been training hard all week, but apparently that wasn't good enough. The fact was she wasn't as strong as the other males but that didn't matter, right? An idea suddenly popped into her head as a way that might help.

Phoenix dashed up and ran to one of her dressers, opening it and tossing out all the clothes she had piled in there until she could see the wood paneling at the bottom. Her hands felt around until she pulled out the water bottle that she had stashed away that was filled with the glowing green mako water she had collected when she first got here. Disregarding how gross sitting water could get the female unscrewed the top of the bottle and placed the bottle to his lips, gugging down it's lukewarm contents and then waited for the effects to take place.

"How long is this stupid thing suppose to take?" She mumbled, tapping her long-pointed nails against the top of her dresser as she checked the clock on her phone. Five minutes had gone by with no results. She didn't even feel the least bit different. With a sigh, Phoenix threw herself down on the bed making her long black hair spread out around her and continued to stare out her phone that she held up in the air. Five more minutes passed and then another before time was going so slow the female just couldn't take it. She huffed and jumped off her bed, deciding she might as well check on Melody since she had a few hours before her afternoon training session.

She soon found herself on the Turk floor and the sound of crashing coming from a nearby room, piqued her interest as she walked closer to it. She wasn't ready from the sight she was about to see and had to do a double take to really get what she was seeing and then sighed heavily since her friend was one of the causes of this whole mess. Phoenix noticed Rude, standing helplessly nearby and walked over to him with one question and one question only, "So can you tell me what the hell is going on?"

"This is what Reno calls training..." Rude said with a sigh. The two of them looked back at the scene before them, noting the knocked over training equipment, spilled water cooler and disheveled mats on the ground that had been caused by one red-head training the other one. Reno had thought it was a good idea to just train her through the use of combat alone so it had gone on like this, with Reno chasing the female and her trying her very best efforts to dodge and run away from him which was fine in the beginning since Reno was just messing with her...but now it had turned into this. It seemed after awhile Reno had gotten irritated that he just couldn't catch her so it had progressed into a long drawn out, extreme game of tag so to speak.

"O-oh hey, Phoenix!" Melody yelled when she noticed Phoenix , voice hoarse and sounding out of breathe. She stumbled a bit, making her slow done just enough for Reno to wrap his arms around her, finally catching the girl he had been chasing around for gaia knows how long.

"Gatcha',yo!" He declared before panting for breathe, "Damn, you're faster than I thought you would be..."

"Yeah, sure..." Melody replied and took a few deep breathes to give her oxygen deprived lungs a break, "Next time..." she took another breathe and coughed before she could compose herself again, "Next time you train me, Let's not run so much, alright?"

"Hey!" Phoenix and Rude were now walking up to the two and she didn't hesitate to flick Reno in the forehead to make him let go of Melody.

"Owww! Hey, what was that for,yo!" Reno whined, rubbing his forehead with a pout while Rude caught an unsteady Melody from falling on the ground, who she was now clinging onto to keep herself up straight. She felt dizzy from burning off all her sugar and could already feel the room spinning.

"It was for you..." Phoenix stated pausing for effect"Being an idiot."

"Whoa,babe-"

"Don't you ever call me that again..."

Melody laughed slightly as she clung tighter to Rude, "They get along well, don't you..." Her voice lazily trailed off and Rude was soon trying to hold the girl up who had suddenly passed out. He picked her up with a soft sigh, knowing not to be too alarmed by this occurrence.

Reno seemed to be the only one in the room who was panicking, "Wh-Whoa, she okay,yo?"

"Yeah," Phoenix answered, not seeming too concerned and shrugged "Her blood sugar got low so she passed out."

"Well, what do we do,yo? Do we need to give her food or something? Is she gonna be okay-"

"Calm down, it's not like she's dead," Phoenix rolled her eyes at him and then motioned for Rude to hand her the passed out red-head, "but it was your fault."

Reno now looked offended and crossed his arms, "What? How,yo?"

"Well, for one, you're an idiot," Phoenix replied as she adjusted the girl in her arms, being glad she didn't weigh that much, "And two, you chasing her around like that made her body deplete all her sugar and well... just look what you did."

The man held up his hands defensively, "Hey now,yo, I didn't know,"

"...Of course you didn't...that's just something you would say," She turned to Rude, "Am I right?"

The bald Turk looked away adjusting his tie and coughed before suggesting, "Maybe you should take her to her room."

Reno rolled his eyes, "Thanks a lot, partner..."

"Well, I'm going to take her to her room, but one of you two is going to have to check on her later...well, Rude is going to have to check on her later," Phoenix corrected and then looked at Reno, "I don't trust you."

"Hey!"

Phoenix sighed and started walking away,"Yeah, yeah, you're offended, deal with it." The female ignored whatever Reno said back to her and continued to carry the girl to her room, she sighed again, "Damn you have the worst timing...just when I needed some advice and you pass out on me..."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Phoenix's head was swarming as her mind spun and her eyes rapidly blinked to get the  
blurriness out of her mako enhanced vision. It felt like her brain was pounding against her skull and she was now quickly reaching out her hand, looking frantically around only to see a deep darkness. There wasn't a speck of light to be seen, making her panic even more. Her breathing and pulse increased as she tried to feel around for something, anything, to know where she was.

The slight memory of being in her silver haired idol's office flashed through her mind but she couldn't see enough to either confirm or deny it. All she knew right now that whatever was going on was really freaking her out. She wondered if this is what Melody had to deal with, and if so she was deciding that she should probably be kinder to Melody during her fainting spells.

"Phoenix?" She heard faintly through a loud ringing that had suddenly pierced her ears. Just as soon as the ringing stopped her vision cleared revealing a very concerned looking Sephiroth leaning over her smaller frame and had his hands placed on her shoulder's to keep her steady. She at least finally remembered why she was here, since on the way to the training room she was stopped by him to discuss the way the other Male SOLDIERs were treating her. It was good to know had some concern for her, but not this concern he was having now. The woman figured he probably thought she was weak because of whatever had just happened and she hated people to think she was some weak little woman who needed to be looked over constantly, " Phoenix! Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, sorry," She stammered out, face now a shade of bright red when she noticed how close he was to her...not that she minded of course.

He sighed and backed up, giving her some space to her disappointment, "I thought something was wrong, are you sure you are alright?"

"I'm fine," She stated stubbornly, crossing her arms, "I just got dizzy for a second, but I'm fine" The female gave him a serious look to make sure he didn't ask again, since she herself didn't really know what was going on to even tell him.

"You might want to sit out on the afternoon-"

"No." She cut him off suddenly, then cursed herself for doing do, "I mean, no, I'm fine really, sir...and about what we're talking about earlier, I'll inform you if I get harassed again." Phoenix saluted him before he could say anything else, "Now if you excuse me I'm going to be late,"

The man nodded, looking like he didn't believe her, infact he knew very well what was going on with her, but decided since she was stubborn he'd just let it play its course. "Very well, you're dismissed."

Phoenix saluted him and sighed in relief once she made it out of his office, but just as soon as relief washed over, panic began to take over again. She started stumbling, eyes being blinded by random flashes of greens and blues as her brain felt like it was smashing against her skull. "Something isn't right..." She mumbled, lifting up one hand to grab her aching head. The woman had never experienced anything like this in her life, but once again like a wave it passed over her, the pain lifting suddenly. Yes, something defiantly wasn't right. Regardless, she shook her now decent enough feeling head and continued to the training room where Genesis was waiting for her.

"Glad you could join us," The red-head said, closing his prized possession, ,_Loveless_, that Phoenix hated. She didn't see what was so good about that book and it didn't help the matter any that he chose to recite it so often, giving her headaches, well, not like the ones she had now, but headaches all the same.

Her only reply to him was a slight shrug and a look that could be passed for apathy or arrogance while she picked up her sword."Now that everyone is here we will begin the simulation." Genesis exited the room, no doubt opening back his leather bound book once the door was shut. He wasn't going to observe them when he had that in his hand, Phoenix knew this much from being in SOLDIER as long as she had been.

"She acts like she can get away with anything," Someone in the room mumbled.

"I know, it's really pissing me off."

"She's not that bad guys..."

"What the hell do you know? Just shut up."

The black haired woman just stretched her limbs, popping and cracking some of her joints preparing for more training and trying her best not to tell some of the SOLDIERs they couldn't whisper to save their lives. The alarm bell sounded, sending them into a more tropical environment this time. She could practically smell the ocean water, mingling in with tropical fruits and the smell of sand. "Great..." She mumbled to herself, "I hate the beach," Phoenix lifted up her sword, swinging it carefully over her shoulder as she looked more around her terrain. The female could already hear the faint noise of something approaching her and lifted up her sword just as a monster emerged from the palm tree filled jungle. With a quick jump and slash, red painted the sand around her.

"This is too easy.." She said to herself as she glanced at the pattern of blood she had made on the beach. Confusion set over her when the red began fading away to more random colors and that damn pounding headache hit her again, this time feeling ten times worse. She dropped down to the ground, cradling her head between her hands with eyes shut tightly in pain. Voices could be heard her as she fell back on the sandy beach, blacking out just as she saw a flash of black hair and a uniform that looked more than a little out of place.

**o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

"Calm down, why are you freaking out so much?" Melody asked, not seeing what the big deal was. Reno had came to check on her right after she had woken up and he was a little shocked to see her trying to sit up on her bed while her body shook badly. She could hear him look around in her kitchen now, knocking over things and cursing loudly ever so often as he tried to find her something to spike her sugar back up, ignoring any common sense he once had.

"Uh-uhm, Do you have any drinks,yo?" He yelled from the kitchen as he ran his hand through his bright red hair, ruffling it up more and giving him a more frazzled appearance.

Melody tried to hold back laughter and replied, "Well, the fridge would be a good place to check for that I would hope."

"O-oh yeah, right" She could hear him rush over to fridge and then slam the door shut before his footsteps echoes through her apartment as he ran into her room, almost tripping in the process.

"Here,yo," He handed her a bottle of juice he had found and sat on her bed with a relieved sigh when she gulped the drink down and seemed to be a whole lot better once a few minutes had passed. Once he was sure she was safe and normal now he sighed again and said, "You scared the shit outta' me!"

The girl just shook her head and tried and covered her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh.

"...What's so funny,yo?"

Melody shook her head before she replied with laughter lingering in her voice, "You were acting like I was gonna die or something,"

"Well hell, you might as well have been with the way you were shakin' like that." Reno crossed his arms, looking a bit serious, "You could've warned me that you faint and stuff,yo, before I had to train you."

The red-haired girl shrugged slightly turning the empty bottle around in her hands a few times, "Sorry," She looked up at him with a smile, "I don't like telling people because they tend to get all freaked out like...well, like you just did. Which was hilarious by the way."

"Hey," Reno said, not being able to hide a slight smirk forming on his face, "Be more respectful to your superiors,yo." He lightly flicked her on the forehead only to receive a small pout from her before she looked around suddenly with a worried look on her face.

"Where's my laptop?"

"Huh? Oh, it was on the table when I walked in,yo, why-hey do you think you should really be moving around so much?" The man sighed softly as he watched the female hurry off into the other room almost tripping because of the rush she had to get there. He chuckled and then followed new trainee was at least entertaining enough so far.

When he walked into the other room she had somehow already opened up her laptop and was sitting on her legs on the chair she was in, eyes concentrated on the glowing screen in front of her. She began typing a series of codes with nimble fingers just as Reno leaned over where she was sitting, trying to get a closer look on what was going on. The screen in an instant faded to black with a bunch of green numbers suddenly appearing.

"I guess ya' really do know what you're doing,yo," He commented.

She shrugged slightly with a smile, "You could say that. I'm just checking everything to make sure there were no attempts at someone trying to hack into the system while I was out."

"Weren't ya' the one who hacked into it last time,yo?" Reno asked with a knowing smirk on his face, waiting to see how she reacted. He managed to get Tseng to tell him her reason and honestly he couldn't help but be amused by it.

"No" Melody stopped typing and looked over to the other side of the room, "I don't know what you are talking about...you're crazy."

He smirked, "And you're an awful liar,yo."

She glanced back at him" I am not, " Melody then smiled and added, "Usually..."

Reno was about to reply to her when her phone rang, startling her enough to where she somehow managed to fall out of her chair with her body halfway on the floor and feet still resting the wooden chair she was once sitting in. "Owww," She whined as she dug through her pocket to get the device that was still ringing obnoxiously. She pressed the phone to her ear and sighed while Reno tried to contain his laughter in the background, "Melody speaking...yeah?...what?!" She jerked up into an upright position looking shocked. The girl then nodded at whoever was talking to on phone, her face going more into a worried expression.

"Well,yo?" Reno asked, looking down at her once she hung up the phone curiously.

Melody looked a little panicked as she stood back, rushing to shut down her laptop and find her uniform jacket, "Phoenix has mako poisoning, she's on the hospital floor right now, oh gawd, I hope she's okay," The female slipped on her jacket, looking a bit overwhelmed, "What if she's dying, that's not a good thing, Reno! and-...wait..." The female calmed immediately and looked over at Reno with a slightly tilted head, showing her confusion, "What is mako poisoning?"

"You're something else,yo," He said with a slight chuckle before grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the door, "Either way, we should get goin' to the hospital."

"...Why?"

He raised an eyebrow, looking over at her like she was stupid, "Are ya' serious,yo?"

"...OH! yeah! we need hurry up, Phoenix might be dying or something!" The female exclaimed as she ran off, making him release the light grip he had on her arm. The man watched her as she ran off to the elevators, shaking his head with a smirk on his face since he knew that she had no idea where to go without him.

"Hurry up!" She called behind her.

"I'm hurryin', yo," He chuckled again, being glad she wasn't as boring as the other trainees he had in the past, "What did I tell ya' about being respectful to your superiors?" He smirked and walked onto the elevator, pressing the number of the hospital floor.

"I don't remember..." Melody mumbled in a sing-song voice, looking off to the side. He just shook his head still smirking and waited until they reached the hospital floor, with the only sound now being Reno's whistling and Melody unconsciously softly singing the lyrics to the tune.

As soon as the door opened Melody ran out with Reno causally following behind her watching the female practically skip since she felt running in hospitals would be offensive, if one could call this a hospital.

"Do you even know which room it is,yo?" Reno called out, making her stop in her tracks, but not before she ran into a person who was walking out of one of the hospital rooms, stumbling backwards with a confused look on her face about what had just happened.

"I-I'm sorry!" Melody stuttered out before looking up to see a tall, black haired male with bright blue eyes. He just gave her a happy grin, reminding her strangely of a hyper puppy or animal of some sort.

Reno yawned lazily as he walked closer to the spazzing female,"I just can't take ya' anywhere,yo" He rested his arm on her head, weighing the female down and earning him a face that showed him she did not appreciate this , "What are ya' doin' down here, Zack?"

"I'm the one who saved that female SOLDIER," The man now known as Zack said proudly, "That makes me one step closer to being a hero,"

"Yeah, yeah, dream on, Zack," Reno rolled his eyes slightly, "Anyway, she in there?" He gestured at the door, "This little lady needs to find her,yo."

"She my friend," Melody added.

Zack looked even happier now, "Really? Do you think you can give me her number?"

"Considering she hates everyone, no." Melody mumbled like this was a line she's repeated over and over before, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I'll let you know when she starts liking humanity again."

"So?" Reno said again, seeming impatient now that Zack had ignored his question.

"Oh! Yeah she's there, but I wouldn't walk in there. She's still asleep and Sephiroth is there with her." Zack replied, before looking at Melody again,"Hey do you think you could give me her number anyway, I don't mind a challenge."

"What?! no," The female said, looking surprised he was asking again, "I don't even know her phone number and she doesn't play on your team anyway."

"She's a lesbian,yo? That would explain why she hates me..."

"Nope, she doesn't play for that team either," Melody replied, "You see, the only team she's playing for is team Sephiroth, which is why I should probably leave since she'd much rather see his face when she wakes up than mine. So..." The slipped out from under his arm and started walking back to the elevators, "I'm going back to my apartment, you two can keep talking if you want." In the back of Melody's mind for some reason she figured she would be seeing more of this black haired SOLIDER, he seemed to determined to get to know Phoenix better.

"Hey-"

Reno shook his head and cut him off, "Don't even think about askin' again,yo. I doubt she'll give ya' her number either," The look of disappointment on Zack's face was priceless, making Reno smirk again, "All the ladies like me better anyway."

"Hey! What floor do I live on?" The red-haired female asked, waving at Reno to get his attention. Reno just chuckled at Zack's speechlessness and walked to where Melody was, pushing her into the elevator to where she stumbled forward almost hitting the wall.

"What the heck, man?"

"What?" He asked as he pressed the button to their floor and then leaned back on the elevator's wall, hands placed behind his head giving her his most innocent look, "You were in a hurry earlier, I was just trying to help."She pouted, crossing her arms, much like her friend does, but even when they show the same gestures or expressions it just comes off as completely different. Really, Reno was beginning to realize more and more about what an odd pair they were, kind of like him and Rude. They really were opposites the more he thought about it. Phoenix was strong, had an even stronger personality and was sexy to say the least, whereas Melody was cute and childish, couldn't even hurt someone if she tried, and was more passive with what was said to her, "Yo, Mellie,"

Melody glanced over at him,clearly looking perplexed by this new sudden nickname, "..hm? What is it?"

"How did you and your friend meet anyway?"

"How did we meet?" She repeated to herself. "Umm..." Melody tapped her chin in thought and looked at the doors in front of her. The female began looking perplexed and then frustrated before sighing softly to herself.

"What?" He started chuckling, "Am I bringing up bad memories,yo?"

"...No..." she said softly, and then looked back at him with a stupid smile on her face as she rubbed the back of her head, " I just really can't remember..."


End file.
